Author's Note: I don't do an awful lot of trigger warnings, but this chapter has a brief mention of visions of self-harm as a part of nightmares. Nothing explicit, I promise you.

Cover Art for the story is from the LexaRecovery tumblr. Stay strong together.

I do not own the television show "The 100" or make any claims upon it or its characters. Similarly, I do not own Frozen, its characters or any Disney characters or property. All these characters are used under the concept of Fair Use, and I make no profit or income from using any of them.

Our Fight Is Not Over

by Jo K.

Chapter 17: The Pieces

I want to run

I want to hide

I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside

I want to reach out and touch the flame

Where the streets have no name

I want to feel sunlight on my face

I see the dust cloud disappear without a trace

I want to take shelter from the poison rain

Where the streets have no name

-U2, "Where the Streets Have No Name"

—O—

—O—

As Anna turned to look around her, she saw that all those watching remained devoutly fixated on her.

Once such scrutiny had made her nervous and self-conscious. Now it no longer bothered her in the least.

Ignoring the fatigue in her body from both the physical exertion of combat and the display of magic from within herself and not her weapons, she walked over to her helmet, lying in a small bed of snow that had accumulated inside the roughly circular region where she and Hans had fought. She picked it up and placed it on her head once more; immediately its ice flowed down her neck to reform a shimmering hauberk over her swollen and bruising throat, the comforting chill already starting to ease the stinging pain. She walked over to her shield next and, with a slight bend, retrieved it from the ground and resettled it on her left forearm.

Then she made her way over to her sword. Only its grip and hilt could be seen, so deeply had she driven it into the ground. As she knelt down to inspect what remained of the Codex, she could only see a few crumbling ashes scattered around the frosted crystal of her sword's crossguard and hilt. The ground appeared to be scorched beneath the ashes, but there was no sign of dark blood, pieces of leather or bits of parchment.

Carefully Anna gripped the handle of her sword and pulled it upward. It took a bit of effort to get it going, but once it began to slide free of the frozen earth, it slid upward with less resistance until the pointed tip finally came free, the lingering ashes crumbling into dust as the shining blade brushed against them. Anna aimed the tip of her blade downward and silently increased the flow of ice magic between her and her weapons; instantly the glow of her sword and shield intensified as she directed the magic toward the scorched ground.

The black char on the frozen earth shimmered as it froze, lasting only seconds before effervescing into nothingness as the remaining ground froze throughout, over a meter deep. Anna's face remained grim as she continued to cleanse the contaminated area, baptizing it with biting cold, to ensure that nothing remained of the magic book that had caused so much suffering across multiple worlds.

—O—

Lexa wasn't quite sure what to think as she led her newly-claimed horse across the scattered patches of fighting that continued across the battlefield. It was obvious that the Azegda were being routed at this point. The Coalition forces had suffered their own losses, but the Azgeda were dwindling rapidly, their lines now collapsed into little pockets of resistance.

The Coalition had won.

There was still fighting, of course. Azgeda never surrendered, and Lexa was fully prepared to kill all those who had dared to take the field in defiance of their sworn oaths to the Coalition, all in service to a madwoman who should have stayed dead.

The unexpected sight of a large group of Azgeda, most of them seated on the cold ground and apparently without weapons, drew Lexa's attention. She urged her borrowed mount forward, quickly closing the ground between herself and the red-painted warriors.

As she drew near, she could see several dozen Coalition warriors appearing to stand guard over the seated Azgeda. Each of the Coalition fighters had weapons drawn, but they all looked vaguely uneasy, as if they weren't sure what to do. Simply put, each of them seemed as surprised to see captured Azgeda as the Azgeda themselves.

A most peculiar situation.

Lexa reined her horse to a stop next to the pack of Coalition warriors. The Azgeda all turned to regard her, but none of them made to stand or flee. This was only growing more puzzling until the Coalition warriors parted and allowed a young woman with a head of messy blonde hair, dressed in a thin shirt and dark pants, both articles of clothing smeared in places with dirt and blood, to step forward, her hands still tightly gripping an assault rifle.

Ah. Now things made sense.

"Heda," Harper spoke politely, nodding to the Coalition's leader. "They, um, kind of... surrendered to me, I guess?" the blonde spoke hesitantly. "I mean, they never said it was a surrender, but they stopped fighting us once they realized who I was. And when they put down their weapons, the rest of my unit felt... uncomfortable fighting them."

Lexa nodded. It would not have been a fair fight, slaughtering unarmed men and women. She was proud of her warriors' restraint and sense of decency.

"So we just didn't," Harper continued. "Fight them, I mean."

Lexa turned her full attention to the blonde Skaikru woman who had become something she had never asked for or wanted. The burdens that had been placed on her young shoulders were numerous, but rather than collapse beneath their weight, the quietly fierce Harper carried them defiantly.

Wordlessly, Lexa slid her left foot free from the stirrup and swung out of her saddle, dropping to the ground beside Harper. She carefully looked the blonde over, noting the patches of blood, dirt and grass on her dark gray shirt and navy pants. Harper's face and hands were likewise grimy with smears of dirt and sweat, and the blonde continued to clutch the rifle in her right hand with slightly too much determination to be truly relaxed.

The two of them regarded each other for a few uneasy seconds before Lexa spoke. "Did you know the Azgeda do not surrender?" she asked. "Not since Nia took the throne over thirty years ago."

Harper turned to look at the assembled warriors from both sides. All of them were on the west side of the valley, the side opposite of the explosion, and with the fighting dwindling at this point, an eerie calm was settling over the valley.

"They sure as hell surrendered today," Harper spoke softly, letting her gaze linger for another long second before turning to look at Lexa, almost quickly enough to catch a quick glimpse of the sly smirk that briefly crossed Lexa's lips but not quite fast enough.

"Yes, they did," Lexa replied softly, looking over the scores of Azgeda encircled by her forces.

"Those Azgeda who have surrendered will be cared for," Lexa said firmly, as much to her own warriors as the Azgeda themselves. "If others wish to surrender, they will also be moved here, where we will establish a temporary camp and allow healers to treat the Azgeda wounded while we deal with those who continue to defy the Coalition."

She turned to one of the older warriors, a member of the Blue Cliff clan who had served in several battles under Lexa. "Western Moon, gather more warriors and take some of the Azgeda to their camp. Take down tents and shelters, then bring them back here to be reassembled."

The short but stocky man bowed his head. "As you command, Heda," he said, his voice calm.

Harper watched as the older man selected two warriors and began moving toward the rear lines of the Coalition to gather others to assist. She turned back to Lexa. "What are you going to do with them? The Azgeda?"

Lexa very nearly sighed, but she resisted the urge. A decision would have to be made about them soon, within the next few hours. Lexa knew that.

"I will make a decision regarding their fate as soon as the battle is over and I have had time to assess our situation."

Harper looked pointedly at Lexa and decided that was as good an answer as she was going to get. She nodded absently, although she realized that her agreement was likely irrelevant to the Commander's line of thinking. "Why did they surrender?" she asked, her voice unsteady, although the question was asked out of frustration rather than curiosity. Harper already knew why.

Lexa turned her head to regard Harper, who seemed to be fighting back tears. Whether they were tears of emotion, anguish or something else entirely, the brunette was uncertain, so she remained silent as she waited, patiently holding Harper's gaze.

"Why am I so fucking special?" Harper swore softly, her voice tight with emotion but carefully kept low. "Because I kept their prisoners in Mount Weather from dying? Because I didn't die myself, despite those goddamn vampires jabbing foot-long needles into what felt like every fucking bone in my body and sucking my life out?! What was so fucking special about that?!"

Lexa reached out and rested her right hand on Harper's left shoulder. "Because you chose to suffer to spare them from an even worse fate. Because you faced your pain bravely, proudly. Because you challenged the Maunon to take your life, then refused to die. Because you fought here, to protect those you love. Because you face your fears and challenge the world instead of accept what you have been given. That is why these Azgeda respect you and chose to surrender rather than risk harming you." She kept her eyes locked onto Harper's, ignoring the quiver of the blonde's chin and shaking of her body. "You sacrificed and suffered to protect those who could not protect themselves. THAT is what heroes do, Harper Jusdonosir."

Tears trickled down Harper's dirty face, and she reflexively looked away from Lexa. "I'm... I'm not a hero," she whispered.

Lexa squeezed Harper's shoulder briefly. "You are," she replied, "most of all because you feel that way."

Harper tightly clenched her eyes closed, straining so hard her temples pounded for several painful seconds before she finally relaxed her facial muscles. "I never wanted this," she said, her voice rough and raw.

Despite the decades of knowledge and lifetimes of memories in the Commander's Flame, Lexa found herself unable to think of anything remotely comforting to say to the young warrior.

—O—

To say that Anna burst through the canvas flap that served as a door in the hospital tent would have been a bit of overstatement, but not by much.

"Elsa!" Anna cried out as the magic in her heart and soul pointed her gaze to the right corner of the makeshift room. There Elsa lay in a small field cot, covered with a light sheet, with Lincoln seated on a small folding chair beside her.

At the sound of her wife's voice, Elsa's eyes opened, quickly focusing in on her true love. "I'm much better than it looks," the blonde said, her voice weary with fatigue. "I just passed out from exerting myself too much."

Foregoing any chastisements, Anna dropped to her knees beside the cot, taking Elsa's right hand in both of her own. She very nearly fell into Lincoln's lap when she stumbled on her way down.

"I take it the battle's over, since your armor is off?" Elsa asked, her eyes fluttering closed once more.

"It is," Anna replied, kissing the back of Elsa's fair hand. "We won."

"Mmm, I figured as much. You were fighting, after all."

"Flirt," Anna said softly, smiling now that her own eyes had seen that Elsa was going to be fine. "And the baby's okay?"

Elsa nodded gently. "She's fine. The physician Jackson checked her with the sound device when they first brought me in, and then again just a few minutes ago. Everything looks good with her."

Anna audibly sighed. "I was worried when I felt you collapse," she admitted. "But I didn't feel anything horribly wrong, so I stayed and kept fighting."

Elsa's blue eyes opened and met Anna's worried blue-green. "And that was exactly what you should have done, my heart," she said proudly.

Anna's eyes looked away briefly. "I wanted to check on you," she half-mumbled.

Elsa sighed happily as she closed her eyes again. "I wanted you to, too. But you did the right thing, and I know you were needed out there."

Anna nodded to herself. "The sorcerer is dead," she said, her voice flat. "I killed him."

Elsa's eyes opened again, more slowly this time. She carefully looked Anna's face over, checking for any sign of visible injury. "Are you alright?" she asked gently.

"Yeah," Anna replied, and suddenly she felt weary to her very bones. "It was..." her voice trailing off as she took a moment to consider how audacious fortune could become. "It was Hans."

Now Elsa's eyes widened appreciably. "HANS?!" she said, her voice nearly rasping from the harshness in her tone.

"Hans," Anna replied, her voice strained but slightly softer. The mistake that kept on haunting them. HER mistake, that nearly cost them everything.

The soft touch of cool, smooth fingertips on her right left cheek made Anna open her eyes again, this time meeting Elsa's bright blue gaze, brimming with compassion and love. "No, Anna," Elsa whispered.

"No what?" Anna weakly replied.

"Don't blame yourself. Don't you ever blame yourself for someone else's actions... especially him."

Anna sniffed once, summoning all her willpower to hold back any rebellious tears. "I'm glad he's dead," she said softly.

"We gave him a chance to redeem himself years ago, and he squandered that as well," Elsa replied, thinking about the days spent helping their friends on the Dark Continent. "Are you honestly surprised he was capable of such cruelty?"

"Of course not," Anna replied, allowing a little warmth of happiness as the sting of threatened tears began to withdraw. "But Elsa... What he had become." Anna shook her head slowly. "It was twisted. Evil. All corruption and poison. He was burning people alive to fuel his power, and he was enjoying it."

"I imagine you put a stop to that as well," Elsa said proudly. Then she smiled as a memory from their days in Agrabah floated to the surface in her mind. "You lived up to your word, didn't you?" she asked her mate softly.

"Yeah," Anna said, unable to suppress the shy grin that eased its way onto her lips. "I told him that if I ever saw him again, I'd kill him, after what he tried to do to you. Again."

Elsa placed a kiss on Anna's temple. "You're a woman of your word, my love. That's one of the reasons why I married you."

Anna's grin stretched wider. "I thought it was because I leave you a sweaty, incoherent mess when we do it."

The utter silence filling the tent currently shared with a few other patients was quite evident in the pause before Elsa replied. But the days of her being embarrassed about what she and Anna did were far in the past. So she simply flashed that cocky smirk that she knew made Anna's mouth go dry and back begin to sweat before she cooed, "Well, I did say one of the reasons."

Anna leaned forward and kissed her wife for several seconds, pulling away for bright blue eyes to meet blue-green. "Are you able to stand?" she asked.

Elsa nodded her head and clenched the sides of her cot to help pull herself into an upright position. "I think so," she said.

"Because I can carry you if I need to," Anna added. "Clarke was wanting both of us for something outside."

Elsa gave Anna a game smile. "Help me up?"

"Of course!"

Carefully Anna helped Elsa turn to the side, then to carefully stand. They waited for several seconds while Elsa carefully assessed her body, finally giving Anna a smile and nod of acknowledgment.

Anna shot Elsa a look that indicated she was still skeptical. "I'm happy to carry you, you know."

"I know, and thank you for that. I'll be fine."

"If you start to fall, I'm putting you over my shoulder and carrying you to the horse."

"Anna..."

—O—

Clarke sighed, watching dispassionately as the surviving Azgeda warriors, maybe two or three hundred of them at this point, helped set up the temporary shelter off to the side of the battlefield. Three times as many Coalition warriors circulated through the growing shelters, silently promising that any further violence would be dealt with swiftly and harshly. Healers from both Coalition and Azgeda forces tended to the Azgeda wounded under the scrutiny of the guards. It was now late in the afternoon, and fatigue was beginning to gnaw at Wanheda's thoughts as the euphoria of adrenaline began to wane.

"I passed Harper on the way here," Clarke said to her wife, the two of them astride their horses as they waited roughly seventy yards away, their mounts positioned side by side. "She was going to tell Monroe that she was okay."

"She has much on her mind," Lexa said. "But she did well in battle today."

Clarke nodded in silent accord. "What are we going to do with them?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the Azgeda, battered and bloody and beaten.

"Those who fought against the Coalition forces today will be given the chance to swear an oath to serve the Coalition. Those who do so will join the Coalition forces. Most of them will remain in Polis, where they can be monitored at all times. If they have family, their mates and children will be allowed to join them in Polis."

"Isn't that dangerous? Having them in Polis?"

Lexa turned to look at her houmon. "No more dangerous than leaving them to their own devices in the North," she said simply.

"About that," Clarke replied. "What are you going to do about the Azgeda in general? Are you going to wipe them out as a clan, divide them among the others? Or are you going to place a new ruler on Nia's throne and hope he or she doesn't follow in her footsteps?"

"I have considered several options," Lexa said quietly. "The Azgeda are proud and difficult. Integration into other tribes would likely be... problematic. Fortunately, a better option presented itself."

Lexa tipped her head to the side, back toward the Coalition camp, where a small pack of maybe a half-dozen people on horseback were crossing the battlefield, a little over halfway to them.

"One of the Azgeda chose to betray her people and attempt to warn you of an attempt on your life," Lexa said, getting a look of surprise on Clarke's face. "Nia had assumed I would keep you out of the fighting, that you would be back at our camp and thus vulnerable to a group of assassins."

The amused smile on Clarke's face was nothing short of adorable to Lexa. "She didn't know me very well, did she?" the blonde asked.

Lexa's smile was more subtle but all the more precious to Clarke as a result. "No, she certainly did not."

"You, however, know me quite well."

"I would hope so."

There was a definite pause and a clear smirk on Clarke's face before she added, "Quite... well."

Lexa's return quip was forestalled by the arrival of a young woman on horseback, accompanied by several Coalition warriors also on horseback. She had short, dirty dark blonde hair, fair features and intense eyes that Clarke seemed to partially recognize. Her clothes were smeared with dirt and grime, but her face and neck had been washed and were clean, and her eyes were sharp and intent.

"I know you," Clarke said, trying to place where she'd seen the woman before.

"Echo," said the older blonde. "I was one of the ones you and Heda rescued from Mount Weather."

"And you were the one behind the plot to try to destroy the alliance between Arkadia and the Coalition," Clarke added, the pieces starting to fall in place in her mind.

Echo grimaced visibly. "While that was my aunt's plan, I was the one who helped manipulate Bellamy Blake into trying to attack the Coalition and sunder your alliance."

"And Lexa didn't kill you?" asked Clarke, genuinely surprised. She turned to look at her wife.

Lexa's face was utterly calm as she looked at her mate. "Echo fled back to Azgeda lands, and when I installed Roan on the throne, she managed to disappear."

Echo spoke up, her face shifting into an emotionless mask she seemed to bear smoothly. "I was protected by forces loyal to Nia who were plotting to overthrow Roan. Then when the sorcerer appeared, demonstrated his power and offered to help bring Nia back to life and assist us in conquering the entire Kongeda, I was initially supportive of the plan... until I realized exactly what was required to restore her to life.

"By that time, I was already on an alien world, entirely at the mercy of a madman who controlled dark magic powerful enough to return the dead to life. I hoped that once my aunt was back, she would rein in the sorcerer's dark impulses, but instead she fucking enjoyed her new power and the suffering his dark magics demanded."

Clarke frowned as she tipped her head slightly to the side. "So it's all somebody else's fault, right?" she asked skeptically, at first to no one as she looked off to the gray sky just above the horizon. She turned to glare at Echo, and the intensity of her blue eyes, still shrouded in the ravenesque warpaint of Wanheda, made Echo shiver. "You were just 'following orders,' huh?"

"I—" Echo began, the words catching in her throat before Wanheda's furious gaze. The sight of Wanheda's left hand slowly moving down toward the Skai gun she wore on her left hip was just as disconcerting, however.

"Echo is our best opportunity to restore order to the Azgeda," Lexa interjected, her measured voice notably calm. "She is Nia's niece, the last member of their royal line. The Azgeda will recognize her as the legitimate ruler, forestalling any need to force a new ruler upon them and then deal with pockets of resistance for years afterward."

If it was hard for Echo to speak just moments before, now it was impossible. Her mouth opened, but not even a squeak or croak came out. She pressed a hand to her chest in a gesture of disbelief.

Lexa eased her horse forward, moving a few steps toward the dumbfounded woman. "Echo has met and worked with Skaikru. She has a positive opinion of them, or at least no active hatred toward them. Whether the reverse is true remains to be seen, but ultimately that is irrelevant for her ruling the Azgeda. All that matters is that her people accept her as Nia's legitimate successor, which they will."

"So she's going to get away with the shit she helped carry out?!" Clarke shot at Lexa, her voice rising despite her attempts to retain her composure; the words carried far enough to reach Anna and Elsa, who were riding at a leisurely pace on Anna's horse toward the three women and the small escort of guards around the woman they didn't recognize. Anna turned to look over her shoulder at Elsa, seated behind her wife, getting a matching glance of curiosity from the blonde as their eyes briefly met.

When Clarke turned her head to look at Lexa again, she was surprised as Lexa's visage shifted from careful neutrality to a grim smile that usually heralded someone's death; the shift was unexpected enough that it gave Clarke pause.

"Oh no," Lexa spoke, her voice calm and soft, but there was an undeniable tone of menace in that measured voice, though it didn't seem to be directed at Clarke. "Echo is most certainly not 'getting away' with anything." She shifted her gaze away from her mate to Echo, and the cold smile grew slightly as Anna and Elsa brought their glittering white horse to a stop beside Clarke.

"Echo will be taking command of a strong-willed people who, after having the same ruler for nearly thirty years, will be on their third ruler in less than six months. Their tribe is split along fault lines both moral and practical, burned by a revolution for which she helped stoke the flames. She will be surrounded by angry men and women who will regard her as their rightful ruler, yes, but also as a traitor, once the stories of her abandoning her mission to assassinate Wanheda become known."

"But... how could they know that?!" Echo said, her voice unsteady. "All the others sent with me were dead!" Then, as understanding dawned, the color drained from her face.

Like the once-again-deceased Nia, Lexa played for keeps.

Lexa eased her horse another handful of steps closer to the new Queen of the Azgeda. "Believe me, Echo," Lexa said, her voice slightly lower but more steely than before, "it is only your actions taken to save Clarke's life that have resulted in you still drawing breath at this moment."

She held Echo's angry, tearful gaze as she continued. "It would have been a simple matter to have killed every single Azgeda that took the battlefield today, either as a warrior or as support. Man, woman, boy, girl, ALL of them could have been cut down—and they would have been, had you not risked your own life to save the life of Wanheda. That single action showed that you have not entirely lost your humanity. Not yet."

Lexa waited a few seconds before continuing. She glanced over at Anna and Elsa and gave them both a restrained smile before she returned her attention to Echo. "I have no plans to reveal your duplicity to your people at this time. But you should assume that someone will. There were likely others privy to Nia's mission for you, and you must expect that the truth about your actions will eventually manifest itself. So you must embrace that truth, not hide from it."

Lexa smiled at the look of surprise that flashed across Echo's face. "A ruler does not ask permission from her people," Lexa explained, not seeing the subtle nods of agreement from Elsa and Anna both. "She does what is best for them. You realized too late that you were wrong to support Nia's resurrection, to go along with the dark plans of the sorcerer who returned her to life, to capture and kill hundreds of innocents from a world that had nothing to do with our peoples' struggle. And from that point, you did what you could to try and thwart your insane queen's plans without challenging her directly."

Lexa turned to look directly at the two Arendellan queens. "But your actions cannot return to life the Arendellans who fell victim to those dark schemes. Their souls have been freed, but their deaths cry out for justice." She paused, meeting blue and green-blue gazes. "And those Arendellans will have their justice."

Without warning, Lexa turned her horse and sent him forward toward the prisoner camp of the Azgeda at a gentle lope. Clarke immediately followed her, with Anna and Elsa doing the same seconds later. Echo only hesitated a bit longer before doing the same, turning to see that the escort that had accompanied her out of the Coalition camp had likewise began moving in the same direction, keeping their distance but not allowing Echo to pull away from them.

Lexa reined her horse to a stop roughly thirty meters away from the perimeter of the rough camp. "AZGEDA!" she cried out, her voice bringing all activity in the camp to a halt. "Those of you who participated in the magical rituals with the sorcerer are to step forward!"

Not waiting for them to comply, Lexa turned to Echo. "Did you participate in any of the rituals?" she asked, the coldness in her green eyes evident in her gaze.

Echo shook her head, unable to speak.

"That is fortunate," said Lexa. "Do you remember which of your people did?"

"S-some of them," Echo managed to stammer.

Lexa held Echo's nervous stare for several seconds, then she turned to Anna and Elsa. "Those who killed your people will be punished," Lexa spoke softly. "I want none of them to escape the end they deserve."

"Thank you," Anna said quietly.

"Do you wish to take them back to Arendelle with you, to carry out their punishment in front of your people?"

Anna and Elsa shared another brief look before they gazed at Lexa once more. "We would appreciate that," Elsa said.

"Our people deserve to see them brought to justice," added Anna.

"Will you be okay getting them back to Arendelle?" Clarke asked. "I mean, that portal in your world was pretty far away from the town."

"Once we're back in our world, my magic should return to its full strength," said Elsa. "That will allow me to get them to Arendelle alive."

Echo's head whirled to face the strange blonde, seated behind the redhead. "You have magic as well?!" she said anxiously.

Elsa and Anna both turned to look at the other woman. "We do," Elsa replied. "Nia stole her magic from the blood of our people, from their suffering and death."

Echo closed her eyes, trying unsuccessfully to shut out the screams and cries of pain that had been audible despite the distance she had put between herself and the infernal ritual the sorcerer had carried out on that strange world. She would never be rid of those screams, always haunting the quiet moments when she tried to block out what she had done in service to her aunt... and to protect herself.

"I should be grateful you're not killing me right now, then," Echo admitted, the taste of ash in her dry mouth.

"Yes," Anna replied quickly. "You should." She met Echo's surprised look with a stern one of her own. Despite the fact that she and Elsa looked younger than Echo, they were over a decade older than the new Azgeda queen, and they had no sympathy to spare for the deaths the woman before them had helped facilitate.

With a gentle nudge of her right heel, which was less responsible for easing the icy steed forward than the thought in the back of her mind, Anna sent the creature she and Elsa were riding slowly toward the gathering Azgeda, who were nervously looking at each other. When the two of them and their mount were closer to the Azgeda than they were to the three women left behind them, Anna and Elsa scrutinized the scores of Azgeda warriors who yet lived.

It was an uncomfortable few seconds as the Azgeda carefully inspected the two strange women and their shimmering horse. The Azgeda who recognized Anna as the knight who had slain the sorcerer were trapped between fear and awe as they remembered the way she had faced and defeated the fearsome man who had possessed the power to return their queen to life and immolate his enemies. Those who did not recognize her were drawn to the snowy texture of the horse beneath the two women, looking more like something carved from packed snow and ice than a living creature, yet its sides expanded and contracted as if it was drawing breath, and puffs of frost came from its nostrils as it snorted and snuffled.

"Ice Clan warriors," Anna said, her voice so strict as to be biting, "we are the Queens of Arendelle. It was our country you invaded while following the sorcerer, and it was our people you murdered to return your queen to life. Those of you who invaded our country and participated in those abhorrent rituals where our people were murdered, you will be returning to Arendelle with us, to face judgment with our country as witness."

After Anna was finished, Lexa firmly said, "Upon your honor as warriors, those of you who followed the sorcerer to the other world are to step forward!"

Seeing several Azgeda look toward Echo, Lexa added, "I am aware that your new queen Echo was present, whether she actively participated in the ritual or not. She will be facing her own punishment very soon. Now, those of you involved, STEP FORWARD!"

Begrudgingly, several of the Azgeda began to take several steps forward, stopping after they had distanced themselves from the others. It was roughly a score of mostly men with a few women, some visibly wounded, all looking uneasy but defiant.

Lexa looked at Echo. "Are there any others who were there with you but have not stepped forward?" she asked, loud enough for the assembled Azgeda to hear.

Echo dismounted from her horse. Immediately two of the Coalition horsemen did the same, drawing their swords and moving forward to flank the anxious woman. She looked up at Lexa and Clarke and, getting a nod from Lexa, she walked toward the line of Azgeda who did not step forward.

She moved carefully down the line, scrutinizing each face. "This one," she said, pointing at one man a full head taller than her, her face still marked with dried blood on its left side. "You were with us, Hector."

The man snarled and meant to charge Echo, but he was stopped by the tip of a guard's sword against his abdomen.

"Move him to the side," Lexa said. "We will take him and any other cowards back to Polis, where their deaths will be slow and painful."

Abruptly, Hector rushed forward, nearly impaling himself on the guard's sword as he tried to force the smaller man to the ground. The warrior slid to the side and turned, twisting to allow the larger Azgeda to stumble forward and fall, pulling the sword to the side and into a guard position in the process.

Lexa was off of her horse in the blink of an eye, striding angrily toward the injured Azgeda. She drew a long dagger from its sheath on the side of her right thigh as she approached the prone warrior, easily sidestepping the man's attempt to lunge at her feet as she approached. She turned as she knelt, grasping his left lower leg as she slashed the knife across the taut tendons behind his left knee, severing them easily. He cried out with pain, but Lexa ignored it as she repeated the process with his right leg, leaving his legs essentially useless.

"You shame your people with your lies and your actions," Lexa hissed at the now-shrieking man. "You have no honor, so you will die in the cold dirt as you deserve." She stabbed her dagger into his right lower back, driving it deep enough to pierce bowel while trying to avoid the kidney, renal artery and aorta. She moved back as he rolled over, thrashing; she paused for a moment before plunging her dagger into his left lower back this time, burying it to the hilt in similar fashion and then quickly yanking it free.

"However long it takes you to die, you have earned your suffering," she growled at him. She stood back up, continuing to glare at the mortally wounded man. "He receives no treatment, no comfort," she said, looking at the guards behind the Azgeda as well as the Azgeda themselves. "Hopefully the scavengers which feed upon his remains will not take his dishonor into themselves."

"I do not offer mercy often," Lexa said, raising her voice, her bloodied dagger still in her hand as she looked up and down at the majority of the Azgeda. "So it would be wise of any of you to accept it while the offer stands. If any of you who trespassed on Arendellan land have yet to step forward, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SO!"

Four Azgeda shuffled forward, one hobbling mostly on his good left leg as he did so, joining the Azgeda who had already confessed their involvement.

Lexa waited a few moments before she looked at Echo again. "Continue," she told the young queen. "I have something special in mind for any others who seek to escape justice."

A young Azgeda girl, still a teenager, ran forward, joining the others. She stopped so quickly that she nearly fell forward as she reached the others. Lexa glared at her but did not speak or move. The girl was shivering with fear as she tried to stand still, staring directly at the ground in front of her feet as she waited for some retribution.

Lexa fought to keep a satisfied grin off her face. Now she was fairly sure that all those culpable had admitted their guilt. Still...

"Are there any others too cowardly to step forward and admit their guilt?" Lexa said, looking at Echo again.

The short-haired blonde resumed her walk down the line of Azgeda, searching faces for any she remembered being with her on that bloody trip into a world filled with even more snow than her home. None triggered any sense of recognition.

She turned to Lexa. "I don't think any of these others were involved."

Lexa held the new Azgeda queen's gaze for several seconds. There was no hesitation that she could read, either on Echo's face or in her eyes. Nervousness, yes, that was evident in the faint trembling her body manifested from moment to moment, but no sign of deceit. Without speaking, she gave Echo a single nod of dismissal, then turned back toward Clarke, Anna and Elsa.

"When will you return to Arendelle?" Lexa asked as she began to patiently make her way back toward the three of them.

Anna and Elsa shared a brief look before they returned their gazes to Lexa once more. "Once we know this is truly over," Elsa said.

Anna hated what she was about to say, but it needed to be said. "If Hans—the sorcerer—was able to bring Nia back from the dead, then we need to make sure he can't bring himself back."

Lexa's eyes slid to meet Clarke's suddenly-concerned gaze. "That... is a valid point of concern," the Heda spoke carefully.

"The Codex was destroyed," Anna said. "Even the bits of ash that were left. I made sure that every tiny piece of it was vaporized with our ice. Every damned thing it held in its cursed pages has been destroyed, so if he does manage to come back, it's not going to be with that book.."

A muffled snicker, almost a full chuckle, escaped from beneath the hand Clarke had quickly clamped over her mouth.

Curious eyes slowly moved to regard the abruptly shaking blonde as she tried to contain her strange amusement at some unspoken joke. After a few awkward seconds, in which time the blonde's mirth began to infect others with quirky smiles and unreleased laughter brimmed with potential energy, she finally waved feebly with her free right hand in the direction of the other women with her.

"It's an old saying," Clarke said as she tried to catch her breath, her runaway giddiness finally starting to wane. "That the pen is mightier than the sword."

Atop their glittering white steed, Anna and Elsa both smiled knowingly. "Not today," Anna said proudly.

—O—

Harper burst through the heavy canvas flaps serving as doors to the medical triage tent with a loud canvas smack. "Where is she?" she practically shouted, chest pounding and her head spinning from the worse-than-expected exertion of running back to camp. Her outburst and disheveled appearance managed to draw the attention of the half-dozen people currently inside the large tent. "Where's Zoe?!"

"She's in the back," Bellamy replied, standing up from where he was examining a wounded Desert Clan fighter. "I'll take you to her."

Harper swallowed down the flare of anger that bloomed in her chest at the sight of the older Ark refugee. It was his fault Monroe died, terrified and gasping for air that her swollen lungs couldn't use. It was his fault Monroe carried around crippling guilt that might still swallow her whole. And if she found out that what-the-fuck-ever had happened to Monroe this time was his fault, too, then there was no telling what she was going to do to Bellamy Blake.

Harper tried not to let her anger overtake her as she glared at Bellamy's back while they went into another tent, this one with injured people both sitting and lying down, then into another tent, finally into a fourth tent that was much smaller and darker, with stacked crates and boxes taking up most of the area in the dark tent. Harper pressed her left hand to her chest to try and ease the anxious tightness gripping her chest, with limited benefit.

Instantly a figure shot to its feet from where it had been positioned on the ground in the center of the tent.

Harper had to fight from reaching for the pistol at her side as the figure, roughly Monroe's height, moved toward them. The gleam of a knife's blade in the dim light coming from the next tent was visible before any of the figure's features.

"Z-Zoe?" Harper asked weakly.

The gleam of the knife vanished, and the young face of Dido materialized as the young girl stepped closer. "Jusdonosir," she spoke reverently. "Your houmon is over here."

With the snick of a switch, a small light came on, held in Dido's left hand. "Ever since she was brought here, I have not left her," the girl said, motioning for Harper to follow her. She led the blonde through the stacks of supplies, rounding a corner to reveal Monroe slumping against a large mound of blankets.

The slight girl looked up at Harper, and the glistening sign of tears could be seen in the young Trikru's green eyes. "I... did not know what else to do," she spoke softly. "I did not want to overstep any boundaries. So I watched over her until you could be found."

Without thinking, Harper stepped forward and wrapped the slight girl up into a hug. "Thank you," she whispered, squeezing the odd Grounder girl. "For protecting her."

The girl's chin and bottom lip began to quiver as Harper pulled back enough to look her in the eyes. "It was my honor to protect her," Dido breathed out, her voice shaky. "She saved the noncombatants, the healers, the wounded, with what she did."

Which Harper still wasn't exactly aware of. But that could wait. "You can stay, if you want," Harper told the girl, the dark fuzz of the Grounder girl's nearly-shaved hair looking even darker in the shadows cast by the sole light in the room. "We won't mind."

Dido nodded once, the simple motion dislodging a rebellious tear that snaked its way down her left cheek. "I will wait outside. Guard the entrance to this tent."

Harper smiled and nodded. "Thank you," she said tenderly, the pounding of her heart seeming to ease appreciably. "You're a good friend and an even better protector."

Unable to trust her voice due to her swirling emotions, Dido nodded and quietly slid past Harper. She looked up at Bellamy, and the emotion in her emotions turned darker despite the dim lighting. "Out," she told him, softly but firmly.

For two long seconds Bellamy looked down at the small girl, a little over half his size. But the look on her face made it quite clear that should he refuse to comply, she would have no hesitation in forcing him to do so. It was a different look than the defiance he had seen in Octavia's eyes for so many years; where his younger sister's actions had been mostly out of stubbornness and curiosity, there was an intensity in the Grounder's gaze that spoke of something darker, something almost eager to lash out.

Wordlessly, he turned and exited the tent. Because his back was turned, he couldn't see Dido slip her favorite knife back into its sheath at her hip, her feelings mixed that there had been no need to use it.

Harper settled herself onto the floor beside Monroe, shifting until she was pressed against the lithe redhead. "Please let me hold you," she whispered to her lover; as she soon as she heard a whimper and felt a nod against her shoulder, she half-pulled Monroe up and onto her lap. Monroe continued to cry, but as her left arm weakly crept around Harper's side and the blonde's arms wrapped protectively around her lover's torso, the shaking and sobs began to ease slightly.

"Shhh," Harper whispered softly, pressing her lips into Monroe's thickly braided hair, breathing in the smell of her lover. "I've got you now, baby. I've got you."

"I..." Monroe tried to wetly say, only to hushed by a kiss on her temple.

"You don't have to say anything, baby. Not right now." Harper didn't try to keep from crying. She let the tears fall, flowing into Monroe's dark red hair as the redhead's tears wet Harper's shirt and the skin beneath.

But Monroe was stubborn, something Harper would never dispute or try to mitigate. "I... I killed again, Harp," she rasped out in a voice just above a whisper. "I didn't want to. I didn't. But if I hadn't..."

"If you hadn't, then more would have died," Harper finished for her. "I know. And you know too. You're just too busy beating yourself up over it to really get it right now."

Harper felt as much as heard Monroe mumble something against her chest. "What, baby?" she asked tenderly. "I couldn't hear you."

"I let you down," Monroe whispered, shivering once as finished speaking.

"Oh, no, baby. No, no. You didn't let me down." Harper kissed Monroe's head repeatedly in attempt to further comfort her partner. "You did something that you didn't want to do to protect others. That's not letting me down."

"They're going to kill me now," Monroe whispered, anguish in her voice despite it being nearly inaudible. "For using a gun again. And then you'll be alone."

"Hey," Harper said, unable to keep her heart from plunging into her stomach as she considered Monroe's words. "They're not going to kill you, Zoe. I'm not going to let them. Clarke won't let them."

"Our families are gone. We're all that's left of them."

Confused by the sudden jump, Harper blinked once. "Then we make a new family. That's what we've been doing, Zoe, building a place for us."

It was quiet in the dark tent for a few minutes, the only noises soft sniffling, the ringing in Harper's ears and the occasional deep breath or sigh. Practically shivering with nerves as she frantically debated something she had been contemplating for days, Harper finally came to a decision. Harper bent her neck until she could place a kiss on the skin just beside Monroe's eye. "Marry me," she breathed out, her lips millimeters from Monroe's ear. "Take me as your wife."

The soft gasp of surprise was audible in the silence of the room. "You serious?" Monroe asked in her ragged voice. "I thought... I thought you said we didn't need anything official, that we were good like we were."

"And we are," Harper replied proudly, her heart burning with passion that she let shoot freely through her arteries, setting fire to every part of her body. "But I want to be your wife. I want us to be recognized officially, now and forever."

Monroe swallowed in the darkness, nestled securely in the arms of the woman she loved more than anything. She took several deep breaths before she finally felt capable of speech. "Holy fuck," she breathed out, smiling despite the anguish of the last few hours. "Yeah. Yes. Yes, I'll marry you."

—O—

As the two partners kissed, Dido listened from her position just outside the thin canvas flap serving as a makeshift door. She found it strange that two houmons felt the need to have another commitment ceremony, but she supposed it was a Skaikru thing.

As for the tears in her eyes, she blamed them on the musty smell of the tent.

—O—

"Harp?"

The soft rasp of her lover's voice in her ear made Harper shudder. "Yeah baby?" she replied gently.

"Can... can we get out of this tent? And go outside?"

Harper shifted her head to look in Monroe's eyes, just barely visible in the darkness inside the tent. "Are you going to be okay with that?" she asked, softly pressing the middle finger of her right hand against the side of Monroe's neck, searching out the redhead's heartbeat and sighing softly as she felt the rapid thrum beneath the skin. "You're still pretty freaked out, baby."

Monroe nodded, carrying out the movement slowly and gently so as not to butt heads with the blonde. "Yeah, but..." She smiled, visible even in the dim light with their faces so close. "You're with me," she said. "It'll... it'll be okay."

Monroe leaned forward, pressing her lips against Harper's tenderly. When Harper sighed, her lips opening slightly, Monroe very lightly sucked on her lover's upper lip; in a response they both knew very well, the blonde's mouth opened, allowing the kiss to deepen. For several seconds all the killing, the pain, the blood, the nightmares were forgotten as two young women thought only of each other and how they made each other feel.

For a few precious moments, all the shadows and darkness in the world were burned away by True Love's light.

—O—

"Fuck," Monroe hissed softly as her eyes spasmed shut in the still-bright sunlight of the late afternoon; she held the canvas door of the large tent open as Harper exited as well.

The smile that spread across Harper's face went unseen, unfortunately. "What, right here?" she asked, her voice playful. "I mean, I guess we could, but..."

"Smartass," Monroe said, the loving tone in her voice removing any sting from the remark.

They stood quietly for two minutes, waiting as their eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness.

"You want to go for a walk?" Harper asked, gesturing in the direction of the path leading out of the valley, back in the direction of Polis. "Could go down to that river nearby. That might be peaceful."

After a moment of consideration, Monroe nodded. "That sounds pretty kick-ass."

Harper smiled and took Monroe's hand; she gently tugged her partner forward, setting a slow, unhurried pace that Monroe matched, the two of them taking the time to examine the walls of the mountains looming near them, the foliage both along the wide path and the trees farther ahead of them. They were careful to avoid the occasional pile of horse excrement as they meandered down the makeshift road; before they reached the place where Monroe had broken her vow to never fire a gun again, they turned to take a slightly less well-travelled path in the direction of the gurgling river they could hear ahead of them but not yet see.

They didn't speak for nearly ten minutes, each content to enjoy the other's touch and company as they settled upon on a patch of short grass on the face of a shallow incline roughly twenty meters away from the riverbank. The clear water rushed and tumbled over the visible rocks making up its bed, some of them daring to forsake their watery home for the openness of the air.

The two women sat and watched the river for several minutes before Harper moved her feet closer, bending her knees as she reclined back onto the grass, the rapid beating of her heart still singing in her ears as she grinned. "If nothing's climbed out of the river and tried to kill us by this point, it's probably not going to," she said with a sigh, laced with a hint of resignation as she turned her vision up to the sky, a deep shade of blue with only a few irregular puffy clouds breaking up the color above them. "God, this is beautiful."

"It is," Monroe replied as she matched Harper's new position, settling in so that her left arm and leg were resting against Harper's right. "And it's still not as beautiful as you."

"Oh, God," Harper groaned, laughing. Hearing the soft laugh from the suffering woman beside her made Harper's inside warm with joy and gratitude. "That was a terrible pick-up line, Zoe."

"Try telling me that later, when I'm between your legs," Monroe replied cheekily.

Harper gasped, lifting her head and propping herself up on her elbows to look at the smiling redhead beside her, but there was something about the way Monroe was looking at her that caused her next quip to catch in her throat.

Mixed in with the discoloration beneath her eyes, still red from tears shed that day, were thin tracks of tears, but those tears ran down her cheeks to meet a wide, honest smile that seemed to defy not just the emotional anguish of the day but also the constant struggle for survival the two of them had come to know over the last year.

"It wasn't a pick-up line," Monroe said, her eyes verifying the seriousness of her words as she gazed adoringly at the woman she loved, the woman she had loved even back up on the Ark, despite their sometimes-tumultuous emotions regarding each other as they made their way from childhood to adolescence. "It was the truth."

Harper's chest felt like Monroe had shifted position to lay on top of her, carrying a crate of tools with her for added weight. "I love you," she managed to breathe out despite the tightness currently gripping her lungs.

Monroe's smile grew even bigger. "I love you, too," she replied warmly, leaning forward for a long, tender kiss. The two flirted with deepening the kiss, letting the moment turn into something more, but they reluctantly pulled their lips away after several seconds. "I—" Monroe began, stopping almost immediately. "I... I don't know if I'll, uh, b-be... ready," she stammered out haltingly. "For, uh, that. You know. I might've sounded confident just a minute ago, but I, uh, I'm just barely keeping it together right now."

Harper's smile was pure comfort, and Monroe was certain that if angels had been real, the face looking back at her would have been one of them. "Then I'll just hold you," Harper said softly. "We're about so much more than sex, Zoe. I'm with you for anything, for everything. You're the reason I wake up in the morning, lying down in your arms at night is my reward for making it through another day, and every moment in between that I get to spend with you reminds me of why being alive is a good thing."

"Thank you," Monroe whispered, closing her eyes and wishing she was as good as her partner when it came to expressing her feelings in words.

"C'mon," Harper said, tipping her head toward the grass. "Lie back down. We've got all the time we want."

The two of them settled back into their former positions, Harper's right hand and Monroe's left clasped together as they resumed their lazy scrutiny of the clouds dotting the sky.

"Why do clouds look so different from this side?" Harper asked, in a tone somewhere between curious and content.

"Probably because we're closer." Monroe gave Harper's hand a light squeeze. "The background's different, too."

After several seconds of contemplation, Harper finally said, "Yeah, I could see that. But maybe we need to do more research."

"You mean lie here some more?"

"Well, how else could we study them?"

Monroe closed her eyes, relishing the feeling of the sun on her face, the kiss of the breeze on her skin, the sound of the river's steady motion, the warmth of her lover beside her. "I'd like that," she finally said, struggling to find the words to convey the rush of feelings coursing through her. "This... This is what I want to do," she said, haltingly at first but gaining smoothness as she continued. The thrill of adrenaline was now fully suffusing through her body as she summoned her courage, and it was a heart-pounding, giddy sensation that threatened to overwhelm her. "I want to be with you, Harp," she breathed out, her chest tight. "And that's all I want. To be with you."

Hearing something different in her partner's voice, Harper turned her head to look at Monroe, who had her eyes closed as she fought for words.

"All this shit that we've been through... With the Grounders first attacking us, to all the assholes in that mountain, to Pike and his bullshit, to this fucking war today—" Monroe swallowed, wishing her heart would slow down. "All of that suffering, all of that pain that we've both been through, it's all the fault of stupid shitheads wanting something or afraid of something."

Monroe's eyes opened, watery blue-green meeting Harper's brown. "I'm happiest when I'm with you, Harper. When it's you and me, no matter what we're doing. I appreciate some of the people in Arkadia, I really do, but some of them only cause trouble, and most of them complicate the shit out of everything."

"Can't argue with you on that," Harper sighed. "Being on the Council taught me that right off."

Monroe turned onto her side, draping her arm across Harper's chest and placing a kiss on her lover's cheek. "Following Bellamy and following Pike only got people killed," she said quietly, her voice strained. "Including me."

Harper's eyes closed, not quickly enough to catch the tear that dove down her left cheek. "Don't remind me, please," she breathed out. "God, I was so scared. If you had—"

"Don't finish that, please," Monroe quickly whispered. She knew exactly what Harper would have done, had the redhead not stubbornly refused to stay dead; Monroe had suffered countless nightmares where she had had to watch Harper fall apart over the redhead's lifeless body. Some nights she was able to claw her way back to consciousness before dream-Harper invariably ended her own life in any of a dozen different ways. Most nights, she wasn't that fortunate.

Harper took in some shaky breaths. "Okay," she agreed. She didn't like thinking back to the bleak thoughts that had refused to leave her side for those days Monroe was on a ventilator, that morass of self-loathing as faithful a companion to her as she had been for the unconscious Monroe.

Monroe wasn't the only one battling psychic demons of her own on a daily—or nightly—basis.

"Okay," Monroe said wetly, trying to recover her previous train of thought. "We're both fucked up. Got it."

Harper laughed once, as tears escaped from their prison of eyelashes. "But hey, at least we're fucked up together, right?" she said, half-jokingly.

Despite the somber subject, Monroe found her lips curling into a smile, a motion that made her cheeks hurt with the recent unfamiliarity of the gesture.

"I think we need some time off," Harper said, pulling Monroe more tightly against her. The redhead situated her head on Harper's shoulder, close enough to press a kiss on the blonde's jaw if she'd lean just a centimeter closer. The warm breath of her lover on Harper's neck sent a shiver through her body.

"Be nice if we could get that," Monroe said tiredly. "I'm sorry again about the sex. It's just been..."

"You don't need to apologize, Zoe," Harper said, careful to not sound too frustrated. "When you're ready, I'm ready. And I'm still your woman, in any case."

The smile that graced Monroe's thin lips was as genuine as any expression could be. "Thank all the stars in the sky for that," she whispered softly.

Harper run the fingers of her right hand through Monroe's short hair. "And when you're ready, then we can get back to the mind-blowing sex."

Monroe smiled, both at the levity as well as the promise in those words. No one knew how to soothe her anguished psyche like the quiet but intense blonde smiling at her. "Deal," she replied, leaning over to kiss Harper on the lips, holding the kiss.

When Monroe pulled back, she could see a hint of surprise on Harper's face at the normally stoic redhead being the one to initiate a gesture of affection. Deciding to keep her partner slightly off-balance, Monroe asked, "What are we going to do about names?"

Harper blinked a few times, then her brown eyes seemed to shine as a happy smile spread over her lips. "Well, if I took your last name, that'd just fuck everything up. Since everybody calls you Monroe, you know?"

It wasn't often that Zoe Monroe smiled and meant it in a happy way. Life had dumped too much shit onto her for too long. But as she lay on the grass, inches away from the beautiful woman who was her lover and was going to be her wife, the happiness that Monroe felt in her heart temporarily overwhelmed the horrors and pain she had suffered in her short life.

The small redhead sighed, this time an act of contentment rather than frustration or fatigue. "I love you, Harp," she said softly but earnestly, letting the swelling feeling of comfort and confidence inside her push aside the doubt and regret that had briefly threatened to consume her once more.

"Yeah?" Harper replied, grinning as she felt Monroe shift her arm, adjusting their position so that now it was Harper who was leaning into Monroe rather than the other way around.

Monroe closed her eyes, letting herself get lost in the warmth and comfort of Harper's embrace. "Yeah," she breathed out.

—O—

Author's Afterword: I wanted to end this chapter on a bit of a happier note. The little snippets about Elsa and Anna visiting Agrabah represent an entirely different story that hasn't been written yet. Don't worry, you haven't missed anything.

Just about two chapters left in this particular story, I think. Sorry for the delay in posting this one. I've literally had it ready to post for weeks, just had a block about posting it for some weird reason. Please forgive me for the delay. Thanks for reading, and I've already started on the next chapter. I'll spare you any predictions, because I seem to get those wrong, but I'll shoot for a few weeks.